FRANKLIN, Mich. (AP) -- Like many Michiganians, Frank Zaski is doing everything he can this winter to reduce his high energy bills. But Zaski, a retired manager with DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group, isn't satisfied with merely putting some extra insulation in his attic and turning off his lights. He's also on a one-man crusade to make a bigger difference by getting mall managers to lower the temperature a few degrees in their food courts and atriums in an effort to save money and help the environment. Zaski, of Franklin, says many public buildings are too warm inside, especially considering that lots of shoppers are walking around in sweaters and winter coats. So for the past several months, he's been carrying a pair of thermometers to local malls, recording temperatures and talking to store managers -- with mixed results. "I'm really a quiet, shy person, but I'm getting more bold," he said. "I usually say I'm a retired businessman and I'm trying to save them money. If I said, 'I'm a raving lunatic tree-hugger and you guys are bad polluters,' that wouldn't get too far. That's a real turnoff to decision-makers." But the truth is that Zaski's motivation is not just thrift. He's one of a growing and increasingly vocal number of Michiganians who see a connection between turning down the thermostat and halting the effects of climate change, such as the shrinking of Arctic ice. Zaski attended his first Sierra Club meeting in November. Shortly thereafter, he began carrying the thermometers, which are about the size and shape of small pocket calculators, when he went shopping or out to dinner. Usually, he tucks them into a small Pottery Barn shopping bag, where they are open to the air and not too close to his body, which would skew the temperature readings. Lately, he's gotten more methodical, spending days taking repeated readings at major malls in the area and building a database of temperature and humidity levels. He has become one of the most active members of the Sierra Club in Oakland County, said Leigh Fifelski, one of the club's conservation organizers. "He got involved very fast and has become a key volunteer," she said. "I guess he just realized that things don't change unless people get involved and people become the change." During his 30 years at Chrysler, Zaski worked in international market research, telling his bosses what European customers wanted in their cars. High on the list was fuel efficiency, because gasoline has always been far more expensive in Europe than in the United States. It wasn't until he retired two years ago that Zaski, 58, said he had enough time to really think about environmental issues and begin to do something about them. He generally finds that stores temperatures are around 70-72 degrees. "I don't know why the mall has to be warmer than your house," Zaski said. "You're here with your coat on, carrying packages, walking." So far, his most successful encounter may have been via e-mail with a facilities manager at the Somerset mall in Troy. The manager said he would consider lowering the thermostat. In other stores, employees often say they have no control over the temperature, which is set by corporate policy at some faraway headquarters. At the Marshall Field's at Twelve Oaks, two employees burst into laughter when Zaski asked for the person who controlled the temperature. "We'd like to find him too!" they said, explaining that it is often too hot on the selling floor and too cold in offices. Zaski laughed with them, then went home to try to call customer relations. One time, a security guard circled around him while he was sitting in a common area, watching his thermometer's digital display inch higher. "I used to feel a little like a shoplifter, but now I'm more comfortable just explaining that I'm getting the temperature," he said. "I have a social conscience and I feel that I have some responsibility for this Earth," Zaski added. "So I'm doing my share. Future generations are going to look back and really dislike us for what we've done to the Earth, for the way we've used energy."